They are your ears: personal protection and personal responsibility.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Murphy, William J.
• Description:
  Hearing protection devices are a primary means of protecting workers from occupational noise-induced hearing loss. However, the Achilles' heel of this approach is the correct and consistent use of personal protective equipment. When workers fail to wear or fit protection correctly, they risk compromising their hearing. Currently five companies have developed commercial fit-testing solutions for hearing protection devices that can be used in a range of acoustical environments. In some cases the fit-test method requires a quiet test space because hearing thresholds are measured for unoccluded and occluded conditions under headphones. In other cases, the measurements are conducted above threshold and can be performed in acoustical environments with more background noise. These solutions will be presented along with evidence of how training in protector use can affect self-efficacy and attitudes toward using protection. Pending changes in the US Environmental Protection Agency regulations for labeling a variety of hearing protection will be discussed. Example cases for estimating occupational noise exposure with the new labels will be presented. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Ear Hearing Hearing Loss Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Sense Organs Staff Development Workplace

  More +
• Keywords:
  Ear-protection; Ear-protectors; Noise; Noise-control; Noise-levels; Noise-induced-hearing-loss; Injury-prevention; Hearing; Hearing-conservation; Hearing-protection; Auditory-system; Personal-protective-equipment; Work-environment; Work-practices; Acoustics; Hearing-loss; Hearing-tests; Hearing-threshold; Hearing-acuity; Training; Behavior; Attitude; Audiological-testing; Noise-exposure
• ISSN:
  0001-4966
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  129
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038952
• Citation:
  J Acoust Soc Am 2011 Apr; 129(4)(Pt 2):2650
• Contact Point Address:
  William J. Murphy, CDC/NIOSH, Hearing Loss Prevention Team, 4676 Columbia Parkway, MS C-27, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  wjm4@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Part Number:
  2
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/248136/cdc_248136_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]